Egg agrees £96 million French sale to Banque Accord

22 October 2004 | 5781 views | 0

UK Internet bank Egg has sold the unsecured lending assets of its French business to Banque Accord for €140 million (£96 million) in cash.

Egg says the French Works Council has agreed the sale, which will see the transfer of 66,000 customers and net assets of €205 million (£141 million) to Banque Accord. The transaction will lead to a loss of €65 million (£45 million) for Egg, in line with expectations of a total of £113 million in French exit costs.

The online bank is currently negotiating the sale of its online savings and brokerage business in France to Dutch bank ING. The disposal will mark the end of a costly overseas foray for the UK standalone bank, which poured £280 million into its French business only to attract 133,000 customers two years after launch.

Earlier this week Egg posted a big increase in losses for the first nine months of the year, largely due to the costs associated with the retreat from France.